


What happened in the Stone

by QueenofInsanity



Series: Together we are complete [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Loki & Peter Parker Friendship, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's son, Peter gives them a piece of his mind for what they did to Tony, Peter is Not Impressed, Peter makes friends, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Loki (Marvel), Protective Peter Parker, Sassy Peter, they become a family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-06-09 14:38:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19477960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenofInsanity/pseuds/QueenofInsanity
Summary: Companion to His Universe. You don't have to read His Universe but some things might make more sense if you do.It is exactly what the title says. We finally get to see what on earth (or not) happened in the Stone and how the most unlikely of friendships came to be. Lets try to keep up with their shenanigans.





	1. Peter arrives

**Author's Note:**

> Its finally here. The long awaited for 'What happened in the Stone' fic. I hope it lives up to your expectations as we begin yet another journey through this crazy universe together. Enjoy, and tell me what you think!  
> Until next time.

The first thing Peter registered was the absence of pain. Not that it made much difference considering he was still vaguely feeling it. He couldn’t even tell if it was phantom pain or left over pain from being torn apart, atom by atom, then put back together again. You don’t go from excruciating pain to no pain and adjust straight away. Peter finally let the tears he had been holding in fall. He hadn’t wanted his dad to know just how much pain he was experiencing but now, with no one there, the tears fell freely. No one there. He was alone. And that scared him more than almost anything else could. He groaned as he shifted and blinked his eyes open. He had to at least see where he had ended up when he was torn from his dad. He could be scared and pity himself later.

Orange. It was so orange. All of it. The ground, the sky, the very air seemed tinged with orange. Peter groaned again. “Where am I?” he asked no one in particular, so it came as a shock when he got a reply.

“The Soul stone,” Peter jerked his head round to stare at the tall figure he hadn’t noticed before leaning against a huge boulder a few meters from him.

“What?”

The figure rolled his eyes, “You’re in the Soul stone.”

“How can I be in a stone?” Peter frowned.

The man practically sneered. “Why don’t you ask the Stone?”

Peter stared at him hard. He didn’t recognise him, but there was something… “Who are you?” Then, after a pause, “I’m Peter.” The man looked surprised before his face went neutral again and he raised an eyebrow at him.

“Loki,” He answered simply.

Peter’s eyes widened, “What!” He tried to shuffle away but moving still hurt so that was found as a lost cause when he collapsed back. “You tried to destroy New York, to take over the world! My dad almost died! Please don’t kill me!” The man- Loki- just stared at him for a while. Peter stared back with wide eyes, almost trembling.

“I’m not going to kill you.” Peter stilled and looked at him quizzically.

“Wait, what? Why not? Not that I’m not happy about you not killing me, I am. Happy that is, about you not killing me… I’m just going to shut up now.” Peter shut his mouth with a click and looked down at his lap.

Loki stared at this boy. He tugged at something in his heart he had long though buried. His rambling reminded him of Thor when they were children. He was always getting into trouble. As Loki scanned the boy’s appearance, he figured that he probably got into trouble too.

Neither said anything and Peter thought that was the end of the conversation before Loki stared talking again, “And, it wasn’t really me trying to take over. Thanos was controlling my mind.” Peter was surprised he was confiding in him so much and by the looks of it, Loki was surprised to.

Peter felt a deep sadness start in his chest. Loki had been being controlled. Peter ignored the pain momentarily to shuffle to where Loki had sat by the rock. Loki watched him but made no move, either towards or away from him. Peter took that as a plus. He leaned against the rock, catching his breath when he finally reached it before turning to Loki who was watching him with a mildly wary look on his face.

“I’m sorry.” Peter said to him sincerely. Surprise flickered over Loki’s face. “I know how horrible it is being controlled like that. Last year I was facing this bad guy and he got a headband or something on me that helped him control my mind. He made me attack my family.” Peter shivered at the memories. “It was so horrible, I couldn’t control it and just had to watch as I hurt them.”

“Fighting Thor was of a similar experience. I had never wanted to genuinely hurt my brother.” Loki shocked himself with his confession, but Peter just looked at him softly and hooked an arm through one of Loki’s cautiously, like he wasn’t sure how well it would be taken.

“Dad didn’t even fight back. I kept begging him to, but he didn’t. Said he didn’t want to hurt me.” Peter stared out into the endless expanse, lost in his memories.

Loki stared down at the young boy next to him. He was so different to everyone else he had ever met. He seemed so young and soft and yet he was empathising with him. _Him_. And he was comforting him. No one had really done those things for him before, at least, not for a long time. The boy seemed lost in his thought. Loki didn’t want to think about the memories he may have, being controlled like that was tough, he couldn’t imagine this young child going through it. This child who was still young and innocent but had faced horrors in the world, who sat fearlessly as he comforted a god. And not just any god, this is one that had sought to destroy his planet and race. A flare of protectiveness flickered to life in Loki as he resolved to try and help this child and protect him from more horrors. Which started with getting him out of his less than pleasant memories.

He nudged him gently and Peter looked up, startled. The wide doe eyes made Loki melt, just the slightest amount. Not that anybody would find that out. Ever. “You mentioned your dad twice now. Who is he? Are you close?”

Peter’s entire face seemed to light up. “Oh, you’ve met him. My dad is Tony Stark.” He declared proudly. Loki’s eyes widened.

“I didn’t know the man of iron had a son.”

“He didn’t until 2 years ago.”

Loki scanned Peter quickly, “I am unfamiliar which Midgardian ageing, but you seem to be a bit advanced for a two-year-old.”

Peter laughed, and the sound made Loki want to smile. Odd. “I’m not his biological child. I’m adopted, though that was official only last year, he had unofficially adopted me way before that. I’m 16.”

“I’m adopted too,” Loki told him.

Peter grinned at him, “Yeah, I know. I had a phase when I was young when I was really interested in Norse mythology. I still love it now but then, I was obsessed. You were often mentioned.”

“You seem to get on well with him.”

“I do. He’s so amazing and everything I could ever hope for in a dad. I hate that others don’t see it. He’s the absolute best. He looked out for me when I was a no body. He didn’t even know me properly but still tried to make sure I was safe. He’s helped me grow so much; I wouldn’t be the same without him.” Peter continued to sing Tony’s praises as Loki watched on. A small smile made its way onto his face – _without_ his permission – as Peter continued his adorable ramblings. Oh no! he was going soft for this kid. This is terrible. But as he continued watching, he could put his heart into believing it. This kid could melt the coldest heart within minutes. He was dangerous. And now, he was Loki’s to protect. The smile grew a bit more. He could get used to him he supposed.


	2. The Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The long awaited for confrontation where Peter gives them a piece of his mind.

Chapter 2

They had basically gone through both Peter and Loki’s life stories when they decided they would wonder around to see if they can find others. They stuck close as they wondered through and past giant rocks, not wanting to lose each other in the seemingly endless terrain. Suddenly Peter’s head perked up and he tilted his head to the side slightly.

“What is it?” Loki asked him.

“Voices,” Peter replied. “I hear voices. This way.” He grabbed Loki’s arm and started dragging him in the direction he heard voices. Sure enough, as they got closer Loki began to hear voices to.

“So, you’re telling me none of you have seen him?” An annoyed voice sounded.

“We’ve already said we haven’t. 3 times.” Another voice sounded exasperated. “Why do you care so much about finding him anyway?”

“Because if anything happens to him, we are all dead.” The first voice sounded again.

“And why is that?”

Just then, Peter and Loki rounded the last huge rock and were met with a huddle of avengers and guardians. Sam, Bucky, Wanda, Strange, Quill, Drax and Mantis were all standing there as well as what looked to be a walking tree and a green lady.

“Peter. There you are.” Peter would almost say that Strange was relieved to see him, but he was under the impression that Strange didn’t like him very much.

“Uh, yes? Where else would I be? Though this Stone is much bigger than I thought.”

“Stone?”

“Yeah, we’re in the Stone. Which is kind of worrying but the Infinity Stones _are_ very powerful, so I shouldn’t be so surprised.” Peter felt awkward and uncomfortable under everyone’s gaze and shifted subtly closer to Loki. Usually it was his dad he looked to for comfort but for obvious reasons, Loki would have to fill the role for now. He also didn’t like being do near the Rogues. They had hurt his family. Peter felt a flare of protective anger rear up but quickly trampled it down. “But I’m not worried. We’ll be out soon.” His dad would make sure of that.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know anything of the Infinity Stones,” Wanda sounded almost bored and Peter felt his anger rise but continued trying to push it down. It was getting more and more difficult.

“I know plenty actually, I fought against them!” That was about as civil as he could make it; he hated that condescending tone people sometimes used with him. He isn’t a baby! He hated it even more when the one came from someone who had hurt his dad.

“I was imbued with their power,” The boredom had marginally slipped away and a sliver of annoyance crept into her voice and expression. Then she rolled her eyes. That was the last straw; the dam broke.

“And how did you use that power? You messed with people’s heads, planting horrid nightmares into their minds. Then, when they try to do something to prevent that vision from happening, a mistake is made, and they are solely blamed for the destruction and death. You blamed him when it wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t messed with his mind to begin with. Your hatred for Tony Stark is unfounded. His weapons killed your parents, I know how hard that is, but you can’t blame him for that. Sure, he made the weapons, but is has been proven multiple times that a lot of those weapons were being sold behind his back and he had no control over it.”

“Kid, calm down. She hasn’t done anything to you.” Bucky tried to step in, but Peter just turned to him with a scowl. He looked like he was barely holding back a punch.

“And you, I’m only holding back because I know you didn’t have a choice back then and weren’t in control. But in that bunker, you almost killed him!”

“He attacked me!”

“He just found out that you killed his parents, watched it and found out one of his best friends had known and kept it a secret from him! Of course he was going to lash out. But you didn’t have to both attack him. Trust me, if he wanted you dead, that blast would have done more than knock your arm off. You could have escaped or even just subdued him, but no. You didn’t stop until he was left with a dead, beaten suit in the middle of Siberia, alone. He could have died. I thought you had wanted to change?” Bucky flinched.

“Woah kid, Steve knew what he was doing, unlike _some people_.” Sam wasn’t just going to let this random kid insult his friend like that. Weren’t kids supposed to basically worship Captain America anyway? He put a hand on his shoulder from behind and quickly realised that that was a mistake. He was lucky to keep it at all. It had barely touched his shoulder before Peter had grabbed his wrist in a surprisingly strong grip. He shoved the hand away from him and Sam actually stumbled back from the force, staring at the kid with wide eyes.

“Don’t touch me. You would say that, wouldn’t you? You’re Captain America’s lapdog, aren’t you? You just follow him blindly. Tell me, if Steve jumped off a cliff, would you?” Peter’s voice was dripping with anger and sarcasm towards the end.

“Did you forget I can fly kid? I would just save both of us. Catch him before he hit the ground.” Sam smirked, trying to regain his footing after he was momentarily stunned. But the ire in Peter’s eyes spread to cover his face, his lip curled up in a snarl, pure fury lighting fire to his expression. Sam took a step back. He didn’t think he had ever seen someone so angry. He hadn’t thought the kid himself could get any angrier. He was wrong.

“Oh, you would catch him? To stop him from hitting the ground? Then why didn’t you catch Uncle Rhodey? Do you have any idea what might have happened? He might have _died_. He’s now _paralysed_ from the waist down. So why would you save one and not the other? Would you be happy to watch someone plummet to their death even though they haven’t done anything to you? Scratch that. You’d be happy to watch someone plummet to their death period?”

“ _Uncle_ Rhodey?!”

“Is that really what you’re focusing on? Urgh.” Peter turns sharply and storms off, scowl still plastered to his face. Once he is out of earshot, Loki laughs. He loved the kid more already. Anyone so young who stood up to such warriors more than double their age for what they believed in had his respect, which was hard to come by. And the looks on their faces were _priceless_.

“Sheesh, what did you guys do to make him so angry at you? He was nice when we worked with him.” Quill said, looking towards the Avengers who were left staring after the boy’s retreating figure, their mouths hanging open.

“I like him. Kid has guts.” Gamora smirked, crossing her arms.

“I don’t know what we did. I think he’s close with Tony Stark; that’s who he seemed to be focusing on.” Wanda said, still wary and slightly shaken by the experience.

“And you hurt him?” Mantis asked.

“Yeah,” Bucky sighed.

“He is very protective over him.” Drax stared after him before looking back at them.

“Did you miss the part where he said _uncle_ Rhodey?” Sam asked, sounding slightly dazed.

“You are all fools,” Loki states blandly then walks away in the direction Peter went. He finds him leaning back against a boulder, knees pulled to his chest and arms wrapped around them.

“Are you okay young spider?” Loki asks softly as he sits next to him bumping his left shoulder gently to Peter’s right.

Peter sighs, “I’m just so angry at them. They messed with him and threw him around like he was worthless. They hurt him so much. He’s worth more than they know.” Loki puts his arm around him and Peter leans into him.

“It will get better. You put the fear of Peter in them over there.” Loki teased him. Peter looked up at him and a small smile struggled to break out.

“You think so?”

“I know so.” Loki said firmly, squeezing his arm a bit.

“I know so too.” Another voice said and Loki was instantly on guard, ready to protect his new… something. Friend? Maybe. Bucky comes towards them tentatively. Peter watches him near.

“Hello,” Bucky says warily

“Hello” Peter replies impassively. Loki looks to Peter, a question in his eyes. Peter meets his gaze and nods.

“I’ll leave you to talk,” Loki gets up giving Peter one last squeeze of reassurance. While walking away, Loki grabs Bucky’s arm as he’s passing, “Hurt him and I kill you.” Then he walks away, making sure to sit so they are in his line of sight, far enough to give them privacy but not too far that he wouldn’t be able to quickly come help Peter if the need arose. Which it had better not. For Barnes’ sake.

Bucky sat where Loki sat and though he looked quite uncomfortable, Peter couldn’t figure out if it was because his metal arm was facing him or because he was so close to Peter.

They just sat there for a while. Peter was tense, he didn’t know what was going to happen or what to say and he didn’t like it. He felt almost as though he’d been thrown in the deep end and didn’t know how to swim. And dad was not there to save him this time.

Bucky felt that the kid was tense next to him and wanted to calm him down but didn’t know how. Didn’t even know where to start. He hadn’t interacted with children in a long time.

“I’m sorry.” Bucky says at last, shattering the silence so suddenly that Peter jolts. “I’m sorry for attacking Tony like that. And for hurting him.” It feels strange saying his name with such familiarity but he feels the kid would appreciate it more like this. Peter looks up at him at last. “And if we get out of here, I’ll tell him so myself too. And try to make it up to him in any way I can.” Peter smiles slightly at that and relaxes as if that was what he had wanted all along.

“It wasn’t only your fault. But I will be having serious words with your friend after this,” Peter scowled.

“And I’m sorry for killing his parents too,” Bucky feels the guilt swell again and looks away. Peter puts a gentle hand on his left shoulder. Bucky startles and looks at him with wide eyes only to find that Peter is already looking at him with a soft sad look.

“That wasn’t your fault either. Neither were the others you killed.” Bucky flinched. “You were brainwashed, manipulated and controlled. I won’t hold that against you, especially since I know how it feels to be mind controlled, stripped of your free will as you are helpless to do anything but watch. Though what you experienced is much worse than me. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Bucky blinked at him. Then smiled. Peter smiled back. The journey to forgiveness had started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the long awaited for confrontation has arrived. What did you think? The journey is not over yet though, it has only just begun.  
> Until next time.


	3. The beginning of friendships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fight, discoveries and an intense card game is what starts the friendship between them all.

Chapter 3

It was roughly only after the first day had passed (time was kind of wacky here and they couldn’t know for certain) that relations began to thaw. Peter had kept up a mostly cold exterior towards the other Avengers but had gotten closer to the Guardians and was relatively nice to Bucky. He eventually began to warm up to them like they did to him (after much apologising and promises of apologising to Tony (and Rhodey)).

Peter had quickly forgiven Bucky after their conversation. Nobody knows what they said to each other in their time together but the right things must have been said because when they returned (with T’Challa in tow from when he had wandered in at the end of their talk (he claims to have heard the yelling)) Peter started asking Bucky about his arm and Bucky _responded without snapping_. Sam hadn’t seen anything like it.

_“Can you feel this?_

_“No.”_

_“This?”_

_“Nope.”_

_“How about_ this _?”_

_Bucky snorted. “It doesn’t matter where you touch it, I can’t feel it. Apart from the slight vibrations from where it connects with my shoulder, but only barely.”_

_“That is so awesome! Does it hurt to put it on? Can you take it off? What’s it made of? Is it magnetic? Do you have to be extra careful not to break people’s hands when you give them a high-five? Can I high-five you right now?”_

_Bucky blinked at him and Sam held his breath, not wanting to see a fight break out. But to his surprise Bucky just laughed. “Sure kid.” And they high-fived right there and then, both of them grinning like crazy._

There was a particular incident where Peter’s calm and control over his anger had snapped. The cause? He found out that Strange knew what was going to happen. He had promptly punched him in the face. Bucky had stepped in to hold Peter back from inflicting more damage, but Peter had just said, “I haven’t fully forgiven you yet Barnes” and drove his elbow into his gut, causing him to keel over. It took multiple people to hold him back and it was only after Sam had been kicked and Wanda had gotten a shove so hard, she crashed into the huge rock 2 meters behind her.

“You knew? You knew what would happen and let it?” Peter had asked furiously, fighting against their hold on him as Loki finally managed to secure his arms to pin Peter’s down to his sides while Bucky was wrapped around his legs, Sam was standing near for backup in case Peter got loose from their hold. “You had the bloody Time Stone, I can think of at least 5 different ways to defeat Thanos with that of the top of my head. Do you have any idea what that’s going to do to him? What it’s going to do to everyone?” Strange had either been too busy cradling his jaw to answer, too scared or simply didn’t have one. At least none that would appease Peter. It had taken a while to calm Peter back down.

There had also been the memorable incident of them finding out that Tony was his dad.

* * *

“Tony Stark has a son?” Sam looked an odd combination of shocked and incredulous.

“No, he doesn’t,” Wanda looked confused and Peter scowled at her.

“Yes, he does. I think I would know more about him than you.”

“I’ve been in his mind. I know almost everything.”

“Shut up or I will hit you. Again.” Wanda looked as though he had slapped her already.

“I thought you were more courteous than that. I thought your father would have raised you better. You would hit a girl?”

“You would mess with a person with PTSD’s mind? And I don’t see how you being a girl is relevant. I’ve seen what you can do. And you’ve seen what I can do. And dad didn’t raise me, but I know how to be courteous thank you very much. I just don’t like people making jabs at my family.”

“Oh no. I fought against Tony’s son,” Bucky looked sick. “A child.”

“Well, you didn’t win.” Peter scowled at them. “If I remember correctly, I beat your sorry butts and left you webbed up on the ground.” Loki and the Guardians started laughing; Quill laughing so hard he had to clutch his stomach and was leaning on Drax. T’Challa snorted at them as Bucky and Sam looked at Peter with open mouths. Peter shrugged with a smirk, “What? I did. I caught the Winter Soldier’s supposedly unstoppable arm and defeated two Avenger twice my age,” Peter eyed Bucky, “Or more. I think I deserve some credit.” Even Wanda let out a quiet surprised laugh at that.

“That you do,” Loki grinned at him.

“That was a lucky chance.” Bucky argued. “You wouldn’t be able to do it again.” Peter raised an eyebrow.

“What to test that theory?”

They found a suitable, table sized rock and faced each other. They each put their left arm forward and clasped hands.

“We all know the rules for arm wrestling, and I want to see how this turns out so three, two, one, go!” Sam declared quickly before watching intently with the others. Bucky’s confident smirk quickly slid of his face as he visibly strained and his arm still bent against his will.

“Yes! Go mini Peter!” Quill cheered on, waving his arms exuberantly. Peter grinned at him. He looked like he was barely trying. Peter won, smashing Bucky’s hand down on the rock when he got bored of toying with him. Bucky stared in disbelief at his arm which still lay on the rock. The others were also staring in shock. Then broke out into cheers. Peter laughed as he was hoisted up onto their shoulders

“How?” Bucky asked, shocked. Peter shrugged.

“It’s kind of a long story.”

“Well, we’re here for a long time, probably.” Quill said, rubbing his hands eagerly.

“Well,” Peter started, sitting on the rock-table, “It all began with a school field trip to my dad’s rival company. Except I didn’t know it at the time. The dad part – I knew it was Stark Industries rival. You have to be living under a rock not to know that. Or space I guess. Anyway…” And he told them the story of how he got his powers. Then tacked on how he became a superhero too. This of course led to Sam demanding a demonstration.

“Do it again!” Sam told him excitedly when he landed. Peter grinned then turned back to the rock and scuttled up it. They had found one that was almost as big as Stark tower, a fact that Peter had excitedly pointed out. Peter had already climbed it 7 times but Sam found it amazing.

“Can you shrink?” Sam asked him when he landed back on the ground again.

“Shrink?” Peter looked confused.

“Yeah, like Antman. You’re an insect too after all.”

“Actually, spiders are arachnids not insects. And no, I cannot shrink.”

“What about turn into a spider?”

“No!” Sam looked disappointed by that.

“But you might be able to, right? You still said that you were still learning the limits of your powers.” Sam brightens up considerably. Both Peter and Bucky roll their eyes.

“No Sam, I don’t think I can.”

“Not even summon spiders?”

“No.”

Sam sighed. “It was worth a try.”

* * *

Peter sighed. They had quickly gotten bored. Stories had all eventually been unveiled and Strange’s cloak had taken a liking to Peter. It was currently draped over him like a blanket from where he was lying on the ground. He chucked the pebble up in the air again and caught it when it fell. He did it a few more times before he miscalculated his throw and the rock didn’t fall straight down at him, but too far for him to catch. Peter sighed and sat up in frustration.

“I’m bored.” He declared to the group who were also sitting around doing nothing, Drax seemed to be sculpting one of the smaller rocks which Peter resolved to check out later. Sam on the other hand was stacking rocks on top of each other reminding Peter faintly of a toddler entertaining themselves. “Does anyone have an idea for what to do?”

“I’ve got cards.” Quill offered pulling out a pack of cards from seemingly nowhere. They all stared at him. “What?”

“I’m beginning to think Strange isn’t the only magician in here.” Sam smirked at Strange.

“I am not a magician.” Strange huffed. Then paused. “Why do you bring cards with you into a fight?” Strange asked him incredulously.

“You can never be too prepared.”

“Who cares why he has them, we can do something now other than sit around waiting to be saved like some damsels in distress.” Bucky said getting up.

“You do realise that we would still be sitting around waiting to be saved like some damsels in distress, right?” Peter asked him with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, but we would at least be entertained damsels.” Bucky retorted. Peter grinned at him.

“I like the way you think. Let’s go!”

They all gathered around the ‘table’ and Quill dealt out the cards. A variety of games were played which included Uno, but without the Uno cards and with normal cards. Peter had to explain which cards did what ( _“Come on! I can’t be the only person who has played Crazy 8 before!”_ ). It was quickly discovered that they all got very competitive. It worked wonders at breaking the ice that remained.

“Hey, you absolute cheat, you can’t _hide_ cards!”

“Wanda, I saw that red! Stop using your powers!”

“Bucky! Get your head out of my way, I want to see this fu- uh, I mean, this jerk’s face when I destroy him.”

“Don’t look at my cards! They are for my eyes only.”

“Oh, come on Gamora I thought I was allowed to look at stuff that were for your eyes only.”

“Urgh, gross guys.”

“I did not need to hear that. Ever.”

“There are children present.”

“I’m not a child!”

“Sure thing, whatever you say.”

“I’m not!”

“I agreed with you!”

“You can’t just target all this abuse on me! Make someone else pick up cards for a change.”

“But Sam, you are sitting right next to me. I can’t give it to whoever I want.”

“You’ve got another side! Just you wait until I get a reverse card.”

“What does this card do again?”

“No, wait, don’t just show everyone!”

“It allows you to change the symbol we have to put down.”

“Ah, thank you Peter.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Then I want diamonds.”

“Oh come on Strange! Why that? Why?”

“Uno!”

“Not for long.”

“Urgh, what, seriously? There is no way I’m picking up that many cards.”

“Rules of the game.”

“I got so close as well.”

“T’Challa, just because you are a king doesn’t mean you gather the kings to yourself.”

“It also doesn’t mean you can make the king do whatever you want.”

“This should be the important card though! Why is it an 8 instead? What makes it so special?”

“T’Challa you sound like a child.”

“That’s just the rules of the game.”

“The game is literally called ‘Crazy 8’. That’s why the 8 is important.”

“It could be called ‘Crazy King’. See, there is even alliteration.”

“T’Challa…”

“I know a game called ‘King’ with cards actually, we can play it after if you want.”

“Yes! Peter, you are officially my favourite.”

“Yay!”

“Not you Quill, the Spider kid.”

“Spider-MAN, your highness.”

“Not a chance Spider-Kid. He is on our side now.”

“I had no idea it had reached the stage of sides.”

“Oh, it did. I think I started it.”

“Shut up Loki, of course _I_ did it.”

“Not a chance. Obviously, _I_ started it Bucky.”

"No way _Sam_ started it!"

“Actually, none of you started it. Dad did. He literally started calling me that from our first meeting.”

“Bummer.”

“This is an outrage! I haven’t picked up a single useful card for at least 5 rounds. This game is rigged!”

“Can’t relate. I haven’t picked up a card for a while.”

“Oh really?

“What the hell? You can’t do this to me!”

“Watch me.”

“You just jinxed yourself.”

“No cheating Mantis!”

“I am Groot.”

“No way, I’m not doing that!”

“I am Groot!”

“Hey! Rude.”

“You understand him?”

“Yeah, ‘course I do.”

“Ah ha! A reverse card! Watch out Spider kid, here I come!”

“Crap.”

“Revenge is mine!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I decided to try a new structure for the card game. I was going to add actions and text to the dialogue but it seemed to flow better without it, more quick paced like an actual card game. and it was frankly hilarious writing it. What did you think? was your blood-lust appeased with Peter lasing out? The next Chapter should be coming soon to, so be on the look out!  
> Until next time.


	4. The Reality Stone Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Tony takes control of the Reality Stone, from Peter's POV

Chapter 4

“Have you got a 4?”

“Go fish.”

“Seriously? Have you got _anything_?” Sam huffed as he picked up more cards. Peter laughed.

“Obviously.” He waved the cards he was holding around. “You’re just not very good at this.” Before Sam could retort, the Guardians came back. They had gone off to explore the area and see if they could find anyone else. They had left a trail of stones behind to lead them back.

“Where are Quill and Gamora?” Loki asked them. Mantis grimaced.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Ew.” Peter winced.

“Did you find Vision?” Wanda asked hopefully from where she and Loki were sat together playing with their magic. ( _“It’s not playing, Peter!”_ ). Drax shook his head and Wanda deflated.

“He won’t be here.” Peter told her gently.

“Why?”

“Because he runs off an Infinity Stone. It would defy the laws of physics for one Infinity Stone to be inside another. Though, the laws of physics are already broken by us being here, I guess. But still, that much power cannot be in such close proximity to each other for one Infinity Stone to be inside another.” Peter paused and looked down at his cards. “Do you have a 6?” Sam grumbled and handed over 2 cards as Peter beamed and put the set face down in front of him. “I win.” Sam threw the rest of his cards on the table in a huff.

“How are you so good at this?”

Peter shrugged, “We had game nights every week where the whole family would get together and play all sorts of games; card games, board games, any games we thought would be fun.” Peter smiled sadly, “It was always amazing. The highlight of my week.” He paused and his lip began to tremble. “I miss them.” No one needed to ask who he was talking about. Peter sniffed and hastily wiped at his eyes as Strange’s cloak left him and wrapped around Peter for comfort in its version of a hug.

“Sorry.” Peter muttered as Loki and Bucky came around the table to comfort him to.

“Don’t be. I miss my brother to. Though I am never going to tell him that.” Loki said pulling Peter into a hug.

“Yeah, and I miss Steve to.”

“Same.”

“I miss vision.” Wanda came up to them and put a hand on Peter’s shoulder from behind. “You have every right to be upset. You were basically by yourself at first. Most of our side are here, but none from your side.”

“Yeah, though I hope that’s not the case anymore. You have us now.” Bucky told him. Peter smiled up at them all.

“Thank you.” Just then, Quill and Gamora wandered back.

“Mini Peter!” Quill said when he caught sight of Peter’s tear stained face. Him and Gamora quickly rushed over to them and Gamora enveloped Peter into a hug.

“What’s wrong Peter? Did any of them hurt you?” She threw vicious glares at the Loki, Sam, Bucky and Wanda over Peter’s shoulder as she pet his hair softly. Peter hugged her back.

“No, no one hurt me. I’m fine. I just miss my family.” Peter hurriedly assured her worried that if he didn’t, she would attack all four of them at once. Gamora had quickly melted at the boy and practically adopted him herself. She reminded Peter a lot of aunt May and mum with her quick wit and how she always put Quill in his place; he knew if they ever meet, they would be terrifying to deal with.

She hummed thoughtfully before pulling back. “I miss my sister to.”

“Nebula? Right?” Gamora nodded at him, giving him a soft smile. “I met her when we were fighting Thanos. She was awesome.”

“What about me? Was it awesome when you met me?” Quill asked smirking.

“You had a gun pressed to my head.” Peter said bluntly

“WHAT?!” Gamora yelled, glaring furiously at Quill and backing Peter away from him as if he might suddenly attack him. Loki suddenly had a knife in his hand which he got from… somewhere, Bucky had his metal arm posed threateningly and Wanda had red flickering ominously around her. Peter was adorably oblivious, even as Quill took a step back.

“Yeah. That was after he electrocuted me as well and I crashed into the metal whatever. It hurt and it was terrifying.” Sam let out a growl at that, but Peter didn’t hear. Loki moved closer to Quill. “He was threatening to fry my head and dad got really angry at him.”

“Yes, he made an over the top blaster and aimed it straight at Drax.” Strange nodded.

“Luckily the situation diffused before anyone got really hurt.” Mantis added.

“I could have taken it.” Drax muttered petulantly.

“No, you really couldn’t.” Peter gave him a look. “Dad was furious and probably scared to. That weapon would have probably torn, not only a hole through you, but the entire ship too.”

“Protective, is he?” Sam raised an eyebrow and Peter grinned.

“Oh yeah. He is really protective over me. He threatened to buy all newspaper companies and shut them down if the paparazzi tried to pull any of what they do to him on me.” Peter grimaced then. “And you don’t want to know what he did when he found out I was being bullied at school.”

“You were being bullied at school?” T’Challa arrived and walked over to them frowning. Peter reminded him so much of Shuri that the thought of him getting bullied made a knot of anger swell in his chest.

“How could someone not fall in love with you after being in your presence?” Sam asked incredulous and Peter blushed.

“Its not that hard.” He muttered, looking at the orange dirt beneath him.

“I beg to differ. And I don’t beg. I hardly like _anyone,_ but I liked you almost instantly.” Loki told him firmly.

“It _is_ weird.” Sam pondered. “You yelled at me and threatened my life and yet I still like you.”

“Yeah, but you are probably used to death threats with the way you are.” Bucky smirked.

Sam gasped theatrically. “Excuse you! People love me.”

“Sure.” Bucky drawled and they both grinned and did a mini high-five when they heard Peter’s giggle.

“But seriously, what did Stark do to the kid who has a questionable life expectancy at this point? I need to judge if what Stark did to him is enough or if I-” At Bucky and Sam’s pointed cough, Loki corrected himself, “-if _we_ need to do something… more.” Peter winced.

“Trust me. It was enough. You never want to get on Iron man’s bad side. But you want to get on Tony Stark’s bad side even less. Settle down ladies and gents because this is quite a tale…”

* * *

They were all sitting around after finishing laying out their ‘system’ which involved laying out rocks in straight lines from their ‘HQ’. It had been Peter’s idea ( _“Have any of you watched Finding Dory? WHAT! We are so having a movie night when we get out of here, all of your movie knowledge is appalling. You don’t know anything!”_ ) and they had started it hoping that it would lead people to them if they were lost.

They were all sharing stories; Bucky had just had them all in stitches with a story about a trouble making Steve Rogers before the serum and now Loki was having his turn. Peter leaned back onto his hands and listened contently.

“-and I know that Thor loves snakes. So, when he comes to pick me up, I transform back with a war cry and go ‘surprise! Its me!’ then stab him.” Loki sighs happily, “Good times.” The group all laugh at the image.

“How old were you guys again?” Bucky snorted.

“Eight.” Loki grins. “You should have seen Banner’s face when Thor was telling him the story. Absolutely priceless!” He laughs with them. Peter is wiping tears from his eyes from laughing so hard when he feels it. He sits bolt upright and looks around quickly for anything that might have caused his spidey senses to go off.

“Peter?” Wanda looks over at him in concern. They had been paired up (reluctantly so on the other’s parts as they wanted to go with Peter) for laying out stones and had gotten to talking. Sharp edges had been smoothed and they were on much better terms now. The others noticed Peter’s change in posture to and became alert.

“What is it?” Sam asked scrambling up onto his knees. He had of course told them of his spidey senses when he gave them a rundown of his powers.

“What do you sense?” Bucky asked him, looking at him intently, “Where is it coming from?” But Peter didn’t have an answer.

“I don’t know.” He said helplessly, “It seems to be coming from everywhere all at once.” Gamora crouched down next to him and put a hand on his upper arm. Then she jerked back suddenly.

“What?” Peter asked looking around at the others who were staring at him with wide eyes.

“You’re fading.” Mantis whispered. Peter looked down quickly at his hands and saw that they were in fact fading.

“What-” Quill started but then Peter just vanished. Mantis screamed at the sudden disappearance. Loki, Bucky and Sam where instantly on their feet looking around panicked.

“Where the hell could he have gone?” Bucky asked frustrated when they couldn’t find a trace of him. “We’re stuck in a bloody stone!”

Loki, Wanda and Strange got together and tried finding magical traces around where Peter was sitting to figure out who had taken him or what had happened. Red, green and orange lights drifting around then and the space Peter was in.

“The only thing I’m sensing is the Infinity Stones’ power.” Loki growled.

“Is that just because we are in one?” T’Challa asked. Wanda shrugged helplessly.

“It could be,” Strange nodded, “Or it could be another Stone’s power at work.”

“Why would another stone kidnap Peter?” Quill asked. Strange rolled his eyes. Loki shrugged.

“So. Suggestions?” Sam looked around.

"Maybe another stone was jealous that this one got Peter so kidnapped him so it could have him." Quill said. Strange looked like the only thing preventing him from strangling Quill was Gamora who was eyeing Strange with suspicion. As it was he just took a deep calming breath, let it out then said, "Any _other_ suggestions?"

* * *

Peter was confused. And nervous. One second he had been staring at the worried faces of his new friends an the next he was swept up in a red whirlwind. He looked around. It was just red whipping around everywhere.

“Hello?” His voice wavered even though he tried to keep it steady. He had no idea what was happening or what to do. He wanted his dad in that moment with such a deep desperation that he could feel tears stinging the back of his eyes. Dad would know what to do.

“Hello Peter.” A voice was heard. It was booming and soft all at the same time. Peter startled and spun trying to place where it was coming from.

“Who are you? What’s happening?”

“I am the Reality Stone. Tony Stark now controls me. He can alter reality and he wishes to see you, not an illusion. But be warned, you do not have much time for the other Stones will fight against this for one cannot be in more places than one at a time and you will not be leaving the Soul Stone so both it and the Space Stone will fight it.”

Peter was still relatively confused. His dad controlled an Infinity Stone? He would be in the Soul stone but not? What? The red began to clear away and Peter though he could faintly hear a gasp. He stared at his hands as they seemed to fade then solidify in front of him. It was freaky but cool at the same time. He heard a choked gasp and looked up, finding his dad staring at him with a myriad of emotions playing across his face; wariness, shock, hope, pain and love. Peter felt his face break out into a huge smile.

“Dad!” He ran forward into his arms and hugged him tightly, pressing his face into his chest. He felt Tony put his arms around him as well, almost hesitantly.

“Peter?” He whispered. “Oh, my – Peter!” His arms suddenly tightened around him and Peter breathed in his comforting scent. The ever-present smell of motor oil, his cologne, the faint trace of mum’s perfume that no one else would be able to smell but Peter could. There was a hint of the smell of May’s cookies on him, Happy’s air freshener scent and the lubrication for Rhodey’s braces. It smelt like home.

Tony jerked back suddenly and framed his face, pushing a stray curl back absentmindedly as he stared at his face.

“How?” Tony choked out. “How are you here?”

Peter grinned at him, “You have the Reality Stone dad.” Peter was insanely proud of his dad for being one of the few beings in the universe to be able to wield an Infinity Stone. “You control it, so in theory, you control reality. It must have latched on to what you wished you had ‘in reality' and reflected it."

"Reflected?" Tony asked, "You mean you're not really here?" Ah, Peter could now see what the Stone meant when it said Tony didn’t want an illusion. Peter’s heart broke when he saw the flicker of pain and despair in his dad’s eyes.

Peter forced a smile onto his face though he was sure his sadness would have leaked through. "I am here, but I'm not at the same time. I'm still locked in the soul stone like everyone else- yes don't worry we're all fine- but I'm also here with you too. I don't really know how it works, chemistry has always been my strong point, not physics. Though this does defy the laws of physics too." Peter paused. This reminded him of another conversation he had had, which reminded him of something else… "Kind of like the Captain's shield."

Peter turned his gaze to Captain America and just stared at him. He was in the same room as his dad. He was in the same room as _him_. Peter calculated his chances of being able to jump the table and beat the Captain up before either dad or one of the Avengers stopped him. Pretty low he supposed. He almost sighed in disappointment. Just one good strong punch to that stupid face… or maybe somewhere that will hurt more…. Hmm.

Rogers shifted looking distinctly uncomfortable. ‘Good’, Peter thought, ‘he should be worried.’ His dad finally decided to step in and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, kid, it's alright. Cap and I are fine now, we talked things through so you can stop sending him death glares. He didn't hurt me," Tony added softer. Peter's gaze turned to him and softened drastically.

"Oh, I know he didn't hurt you, or he wouldn't be here right now," Peter said matter-of-factly, thinking of all the protocols he had left behind. He felt a bolt of satisfaction when he saw the unease of Rogers from his peripheral vision.

“What do you mean?” Tony frowned.

"You don't honestly think I left you here unprotected dad," Peter sighed, exasperated.

"Unprotec- I am not helpless if you haven't noticed," Tony spluttered indignantly. Peter hid a smile.

"Oh, I've noticed. I just left some little presents if Captain America ever decided to try and hurt you again, whether it be with words or not." He narrowed his eyes, just the slightest bit in Steve's direction. Just _one_ punch… Just then the door to the briefing room opened. Probably for the best, Peter’s control went only so far.

"Hey guys, I heard you arrived. Thank you so much for telling me, or conveniently forgetting to by the way Ton-" Uncle Rhodey froze as he caught sight of him, his mouth falling open.

“Peter?” He choked out. Peter grinned at him and waved enthusiastically, ecstatic to see his uncle as well as his dad.

“Hey Uncle Rhodey.”

Rhodey flew across the room and tackled Peter into a hug. "How is this possible?" Rhodey asked incredulously while seemingly trying to suffocate Peter in the hug. Peter grinned. He had missed his family.

"Tony held, and now apparently controls the Reality stone," Clint said, sounding slightly incredulous himself.

"Thanos now doesn't have all of the stone, his grip on the Soul stone has loosened," Peter told them all.

"What's it like? In the Soul stone?" Bruce asked tentatively. Rhodey sat at the table, still looking slightly dazed and Tony sat back down in his seat. Peter practically collapsed onto his lap and, as dad’s arms wrapped around him, he had to physically restrain himself from snuggling into him like he has millions of time before. He can practically taste the popcorn and hear May’s humming and Happy’s grumbling.

Peter grinned, "It's not that bad. We don't need food or drink or anything, we are just kind of there."

"We?" Steve asked hesitantly. Peter looked over at him and knew what- or who- he was thinking of. He had heard enough stories from Bucky to know how close the two of them are, like Tony and Rhodey.

"Yeah, we. Everyone who disappeared is there. Bucky is fine, so are Sam, Wanda, the guardians, Doctor Strange, though he seems to be really exasperated and annoyed with us half the time." Peter's gaze swept across the room until they landed on Rocket who opened his mouth as if to say something, but Peter beat him to it, "Yeah, Groot is fine too" Peter grinned, "He was some really creative insults you know."

Rocket breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "Oh, I know." Then he frowned, “Wait, you can understand him?”

“Sure can.” Peter grinned. Things flickered blue for a second and he thought he heard his name whispered out faintly with the same voice as before. The Stones.

"Uh, what was that?" Natasha asked warily.

Peter grimaced, "The Space stone is getting involved. It's not right for someone to be 2 places at once. The three stones are all fighting with each other."

Tony tightened his hold on Peter. "You're leaving?" He asked desperately and Peter turned to him sadly, he didn’t want to and knew it would hurt both of them. "I never had much time in the first place, I knew that from the start. You need to beat Thanos to get us back, to free us completely from the Soul Stone. You can do it; I believe in you." Peter flickered again, "You can call me back if you want, just not straight after I go or it won't work. Let the stones settle first." Peter grinned as he thought of something, "I should be going back soon anyway, the others will be worried that I vanished suddenly."

Peter got up from Tony's lap, kissed his cheek and went to stand where he had appeared. He waved at them as he felt himself fade. “See you later dad. Bye Uncle Rhodey.” He saw them become blurry and his surroundings morphed. He heard Sam’s voice faintly, “Maybe he turned into a spider?”

He sighed in exasperation. “For the last time, no, I cannot turn into a spider, Sam.”

* * *

They all jumped when Peter appeared right where he was before he disappeared. Wanda stumbled back in surprise and Peter steadied her before she could trip over a rock. There was silence for a second and then-

“What the hell happened?”

“Where did you go?”

“Did you do that?”

“What did that?”

“Is it going to happen again?”

They all fired their questions at him all at once, trying to get answers. Peter’s ears began to ring from all the noise as they shouted over each other. He began to long once again for the calm and steadiness from when he was snuggling with his dad. If he concentrated, he could just about catch a whiff of his scent from where it clung to him. He covered his ears with his hands and squeezed his eyes shut. If they didn’t stop soon, he was going to have a sensory overload.

“Everybody shut up.” Loki yelled. “Can’t you see what your yelling is doing?” They all instantly quietened when they saw Peter’s posture. Peter breathed deeply for a few minutes trying to get himself under control again. He felt fingers gently touch his temples then the pain was taken away. Peter opened his eyes slowly to see Mantis crouched in front of when he had curled up. She smiled at him when she saw him looking. Peter tentatively took his hands away from his ears.

“Thank you.” He sighed.

“You’re very welcome.” She beamed at him before stepping back.

“So,” Sam began cautiously, “What happened?”

Peter grinned, “I saw my dad.” Bucky raised an eyebrow and made the universal gesture to ‘carry on’.

“He controls the Reality Stone and wanted to see me.” Peter shrugged with faux nonchalance and was gratified to see everyone’s shocked expressions. Loki actually spluttered. Peter couldn’t hold in his laugh at that.

“Peter. Explain.” Loki demanded. So, Peter did, starting with what the voice had said and ending with appearing back in front of them.

“I also told dad that he could do it again so don’t panic if it happens again.”

“We weren’t panicked.” Sam waved an arm as if dismissing the thought. Quill snorted.

“Yeah right. You all were one second away from ripping a hole in the time time-space continuum to get him back.” Quill laughed. Gamora whacked the back of his head; the gesture such a mirror of his mum and dad that Peter had to grin at it.

“Don’t try and pretend that you weren’t as well.” Gamora glared at him.

“Are you kidding me? I would be the first person through it.” Quill threw a thumb over his shoulder.

Loki gasped, offended, “Excuse you, I would obviously be the first person through it!”

“Not a chance snakey. I would obviously be the one saving Peter.” Sam gestured to himself grandly. This only resulted in Bucky shoving him over and loudly protesting. Strange sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You know,” Loki interrupted the argument which was quickly heating up, “This was not an argument I saw myself having at all in my life, about me being the first to throw myself into a dangerous situation like a rip in the time-space continuum to find a child that had disappeared from where we were trapped inside a Stone.”

“Well, when you put it like that, it does kind of sound ridiculous. And impossible.” Sam remarked.

“Oh, you haven’t heard anything yet wing-boy. You guys want to hear about the time I saved the galaxy with a dance off?” Quill smirked as Peter’s eyes widened comically and he began to bounce in place.

* * *

“And that’s what happened.” Quill finished, satisfied. Sam blinked slowly at him. Then turned to look at Gamora. She just rolled her eyes and nodded.

“Seriously?” It was Bucky who had said it but if he hadn’t, Sam would have. They pointedly ignored Loki laughing his head off and rolling on the floor a few feet away.

Quill pouted. “Yes, seriously. I can be very serious.” He ignored Gamora’s snort. “What did you think Strange?”

Strange looked at him blankly, “I’m still trying to process how an idiot like you could actually save anything, let alone the galaxy.” Quill pouted harder and Gamora patted his arm in condescending reassurance.

“I can save a lot of things I’ll have you know.” Quill muttered petulantly.

“How about you save my sanity?” Strange remarked snarkily. The Guardians, T’Challa and Strange all looked towards where Peter had just won another arm wrestle with a resilient Bucky (Who was now staring mournfully at his arm) and was now being paraded around proudly on the shoulders of the god of mischief. Sam was mysteriously covered in cobwebs and was throwing stones at Peter who was catching them without looking.

“I think that’s a lost cause my friend.” Quill slapped him on his shoulder and ran off to tackle Sam.

“You know what they say,” T’Challa smirked, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Before scampering of to play with the others. But of course, he didn’t scamper. Kings didn’t _scamper_ , no matter what Shuri said.

“Hey guys, you ever watched The Croodes?” Peter’s voice carried over the rising chaos. Needless to say, the rocks surrounding them were soon covered by various forms of art.


	5. Saving the Universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remember that scene where Peter appears, kicks Thanos' butt, saves Tony therefore basically saving the universe and disappears again? Yeah, this is it in his POV. And a bit extra to.

Chapter 5

Peter disappeared again later. They tried not to worry too much, but everyone quickly found themselves missing the bubbly, bright-eyed teenager who made this experience a whole lot more tolerable. And that was only after knowing him for a few days, they couldn’t imagine how his family must be feeling with him being torn from them even more suddenly and, for a time, with an uncertainty if they would ever get him back.

Loki growled suddenly from where he was definitely _not_ moping. “What the hell is wrong with me? I’ve gone _soft_.” He said with horror.

“Same.” Bucky said tonelessly, halfheartedly raising an arm then aborting the motion halfway through.

“What is it about this kid that can turn us all into a pile of mush?” Sam asked.

“He’s got those eyes.” Gamora lifted her head slightly from her hand where it had been resting.

“Yeah, I don’t know how anyone could say no to them.” Quill added.

Loki snorted, “Good luck Stark, trying to keep him from being so reckless. So mischievous. A boy after my own heart.” Loki sighed wistfully.

“Didn’t know you had one.” Bucky grinned at him as he smirked.

“I do. It just takes persistent people to find it.”

“I can not believe you all.” Strange huffed. “He is one kid. Your independence didn’t suddenly disappear with him.”

“Of course not.” Wanda scoffed while the others glared at him. “We were just attached and now we miss him. It is a perfectly natural response.” The tension increased and Strange opened his mouth to reply, probably with something that would make the situation worse.

“Anyone want to play cards?” T’Challa asked, cutting of Strange’s response. They all halfheartedly agreed.

“I still can’t believe you have cards.” Strange muttered.

“Well, you better believe it, ‘cause I’m about to destroy you with them.” Quill said, pulling out the cards.

They were half-way through their game when Peter appeared again. He looked happy, there was a smear of lipstick on his cheek and his hair was a ruffled mess.

“Peter!” They all cheered.

“Hey guys,” Peter grinned at them with a wave.

“You got a bit of something there,” Bucky gestured to his cheek with a raised eyebrow. Peter blushed and hastily wiped it away.

“That’s from mum.” He told them before asking if it was gone.

“And the hair?” T’Challa asked. Peter rolled his eyes.

“That was from everyone. Though mainly dad. And Uncle Rhodey and Uncle Happy. Mum and Aunt May stuck mainly to hugs-” Peter grimaced with an undercurrent of fondness “- and kisses.”

“That’s so cute.” Wanda smiled and Peter gave her a shy smile back.

“Did you have fun?” Loki asked him, shuffling so there would be room for Peter at the table.

Peter nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yeah, it was great. We all talked and had a great time.”

“Have they got an idea of how to get us out of here?” Drax enquired.

“Kinda. Dad wasn’t telling me much, but from what I managed to glean from him and uncle Rhodey is that they have a plan and are travelling to Wakanda tomorrow.

T’Challa perked up at that. “They are going to Wakanda?”

“Uh huh. But I don’t know much other than that. And they fact that the Infinity Stones are going to be used but we all figure that out from the beginning.” A lull in the conversation occurred as they all thought over the new information they were given.

“I’m telling you now to wait for me because I’m going to make a grand entrance.” Loki told them and played his turn.

“Ooohh, what are you going to do?” Peter asked excitedly.

“That is a surprise little spider.” Loki winked.

“Anyone want to play kings?” T’Challa asked hopefully. Peter excitedly thrust up his hand, basically jumping in his seat. The others looked at him.

“Well, that settles it then.” Gamora said and they all turned back to the table to start dealing out cards to play kings.

* * *

“Something’s wrong.” Peter jerked up a while later.

“What?” Bucky asked.

“I don’t know.” Peter said frustrated as he looked around. “I just feel that something is wrong. I think dad might be in trouble.” Then he stumbled to his feet and waved his arms about. “Hey! Reality Stone, get me out of here, what’s going on with dad?”

“Peter?” Wanda approached him cautiously.

“Hey!” Peter yelled out again.

“Peter what’s going on?” Loki asked him, putting a hand on his arm. Just then, Peter disappeared. Loki jerked his hand back.

“Well. That just happened.” Sam said warily.

* * *

Peter glimpsed his red surroundings before he started talking. “What’s happening? Is something going on with dad?”

“You don’t have much time. The battle between Thanos’ forces and Tony Stark’s is commencing. Tony Stark wishes you were there, and so you will be. He is in his final moments.”

Peter feels the blood freeze in his face. “What?” His voice is barely a breath.

“Thanos is about to land the last blow that would seal Tony Stark’s fate.”

“No.” Peter said, stumbling. “No. No he won’t.”

The red began clearing around him and the faint outline of his dad lying on his ground appeared. Thanos’ silhouette stood poised above him, fist up, about to be brought down. Right on top of Tony. Not on his watch. Peter ran and positioned himself in the way of the fist as he materialised, time seemed to speed up again and Thanos brought his arm down. Straight into Peter’s waiting hands. He could vaguely hear screams coming to an abrupt halt. Peter looked up, glaring at the Titan.

“What? How? This is impossible.” Thanos looked like he was taken off guard. Good. Peter used the moment of confusion to shove his fist away, hard enough for Thanos to stumble back. He looked at him, shocked. Peter glared at him back. He let all the hatred he felt for Thanos slip out, for taking millions of lives, for hurting even more. For separating him from his family and making them feel the pain he had seen in their eyes when he had been summoned last.

“I made a promise, not just to him but to myself.” Peter told him coldly, remembering the promise he had made to his dad to never let anyone hurt him again. He knew it was an irrational promise to make with their careers, but Peter would try his best anyway to keep Tony as safe as possible. Peter could almost taste the hot chocolate on his tongue from that night, feel the warm of the hug Tony had given him after he had made the promise. “Nothing, not even you, is going to stop me from keeping it.” Peter stepped forward and punched Thanos with all his strength, not holding back as he usually did.

Thanos flew back and crashed to the ground. He tried to get up again, but Peter had already run at him, kicking his chest and jumping off it. As he landed, he heard Thanos fall a few meters away from him. Peter smirked. That particular move had left his uncles gaping and his dad ridiculously proud. They had been training for a while by that point and he had surprised them all by doing it to on of the training robots. He was pretty sure Uncle Rhodey had brought in pom poms at some point of their training. Friday had of course recorded it and dad then proudly showed it to mum and aunt May. He was startled out of his thoughts by Thanos stumbling onto his knees.

“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that you stopped me from killing him, or whatever promise you might have made. He will die anyway. No human can survive so many hits from the Infinity Stones. No human can survive that many hits at all.”

Peter gasped as he turned abruptly. He had forgotten that his dad was still spread out and injured on the battlefield. Peter was loath to admit that Thanos was right. There was no way he was surviving that. Luckily, he knew just what to do.

“Friday!” Peter shouted across the field and hoped that Friday would hear him. Fortunately, the Iron man suit lit up. “Initiate ‘Bite me’ protocol, full power!”

“On it Peter. Initiating ‘Bite Me’ protocol.” Friday’s voice filtered through the suit. Tony’s body jerked and Peter felt his spidey sense flare up strongly. He heard Uncle Rhodey cry out as he whipped round and thrust his hand out. Thanos’ fist slammed into his palm so hard he was sure the Avengers would hear from the other side of the field. It was an uncanny resemblance to what happened with Bucky at a certain airport. He had to distract Thanos, give Tony time for the mutation to work. With that thought, he stuck to the gauntlet. Thanos tried to pull his arm away, but Peter didn’t let go. He brought his leg up and kicked Thanos’ head. He heard someone whistle and vaguely heard his uncle’s voice but was distracted by Thanos flinging his arm around until Peter didn’t know which way was up anymore and was thrown off. He sure hoped that dad would be up soon because he couldn’t carry this on for much longer.

“You can’t hope to beat me like this little spider,” Thanos sneered. Peter subtlety glanced behind Thanos and saw Tony stirring. He was ready. Peter grinned. The expression must have surprised Thanos because he jerked back, bewildered.

“I don’t need to beat you,” Peter held back a laugh, “I just needed to buy him some time.” Everyone turned towards Tony as he got up smoothly. Just in time to, because Peter felt himself flicker.

He waved quickly, smiled and said, “Good luck dad.” Before he disappeared.

* * *

He reappeared in the stone with a self-satisfied smile on his face.

“You look happy.” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“I am.” Peter grinned.

“Why?” Bucky asked him, confused.

“I saved dad.” Peter told them. They blinked at him. “We should be leaving any time now. They are battling Thanos.”

“How are you so confident that they are going to win?” Strange narrowed his eyes at him. Almost everyone turned to glare at him.

“I just am.”

“Well, I theorise that everyone will appear where they were dusted.” T’Challa said. “For many of us that would be the forest of Wakanda so we can be reunited with the others easily. Where were you all?”

“Titan.” Quill said. “Me, the guardians, except Groot, Peter and Sparkles over there.” Strange huffed at the nickname.

“I was on Volmir.” Gamora said.

“Ah, don’t worry then, I will pick something up and get to Wakanda.” Loki said with a nod of his head.

“And how will you do that?” Strange raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a surprise.” Loki then turned and waggled his eyebrows at Peter making him giggle.

“What should we do in the meantime then?” Drax asked.

“And can you not say cards?” Strange sighed as Sam opened his mouth eyeing Peter. Sam shut his mouth with a huff as Peter waggled his fingers at him and grinned. Apparently, Sam wasn’t over that last match where Peter beat him (again) after all.

“We could play another game.” Mantis suggested.

“What are we? Children?” Strange scoffed. They all glared at him.

“There is a child here in fact.” Gamora said, pointedly putting an arm around Peter’s shoulders.

“ ’m not a child.” Peter pouted.

“Aww.” Gamora, Wanda and Mantis melted as they cooed at him making a blush bloom on his cheeks. Sam, Bucky and Loki laughed at him.

“What about watching some magic?” Sam suggested with a smirk.

“Yeah, Dr Strange, why don’t you do something. Can you make balloon animals?” Peer asked, perking up again.

Strange stared at him. “You are definitely Stark’s kid.” He rolled his eyes. “He told me the same thing. With the balloon animals. Besides, that's not even magic, that's twisting air-filled plastic.”

“Strange, you don’t really exude the aura to attract children to you.” Bucky said.

“Or anyone.” Quill muttered. Loki snorted.

“Even your cloak prefers Peter.” Drax said. Peter looked guiltily at where the cloak was wrapped around his shoulders. He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. Then his eyes lit up.

“Speaking of magic, there has been something I wanted to try.”

Minutes later (or it would be if time was normal here) Peter was hurtling towards the ground squealing. When he was a couple of metres from the ground, he was engulfed if red and slowed to a stop before being thrown up again, high into the orange sky. His laugh could be heard by the people still on the ground.

Bucky winced as Peter started falling again. Sam noticed and smirked at him, “Scared?”

“I just don’t like seeing him falling from that sort of height.” Bucky told him, not taking his eyes off of Peter.

“I’m not going to drop him.” Wanda huffed.

“And even if she were to lose concentration, I would step in. Or Strange because we would all kill him otherwise. Or Cloaky.” Loki reassured him.

“He is so cute!” Mantis squealed. Gamora nodded.

“It’s almost like all the Peters you are blessed to know are, right Gamora?” Quill flashed her a flirtatious grin. Gamora raised an eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” She told him. “Besides. Peter is my favourite Peter anyway.” She gestures to Peter who was falling.

“Thank you Gamora!” He laughed as he was flung up again. Quill pouted.

“It wasn’t really a competition anyway Quill.” Drax told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“It totally could have been.” Quill huffed, crossing his arms.

“Would you prefer it be known that you lost miserably in that competition then?” T’Challa grinned. Quill scowled at them as they laughed at him. Up high, Peter’s laugh joined them as he heard all with his enhanced hearing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, I know this is late but I was on holiday/visiting family and didn't have my laptop so therefore couldn't write/ post this chapter. But, it's here now and I want to know what you think of it so leave a comment to let me know! The next chapter should be up soon... probably. And it might also be the last for this story, but never fear, I am not done with this timeline yet!  
> Until next time


	6. Reassembling

Chapter 6

Sam stared at his hand as it materialised before him. He winced. “Kid was right. That is quite freaky.” He looked around him as he waited for the rest of his body to piece together. The last he remembered he and the others were talking when suddenly he started materialising in the forest. The forest in Wakanda by the looks of it. Sam looked down and saw that his legs were finally finished and tentatively tried to stand up. Finding nothing abnormal, he straightened and began to walk in the direction he figured would get him out of the large collection of trees.

Some time after he started on his trek, he heard a twig snap and the rustling of leaves. Instantly on guard, he turned towards where the noise was approaching him. Bucky stumbled out of the bush picking leaves out of his metal arm. Sam huffed and let his arms drop as Bucky looked up. “Of course it would be _you_ I bump into while trying to get out of here.” Bucky smirked at him, showing him no sympathy.

“Well, unlike you, I happen to know the way out.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Sorry, I forgot you were the resident expert on getting out of forests after being materialised in them.”

“Well, I did live here for a while.” Bucky shrugged and began walking in the right direction- which wasn’t the way Sam was walking. Sam huffed and started following.

They met up with others who were with them as they went through the forest. Wanda was practically attached to Vision and Groot was… well, he looked fine. They couldn’t really understand him completely fluently yet but had picked up on his mannerisms. They were making quite the racket as they finally broke through the tree line. T’Challa raced past them with a shout, “Shuri!” His shout was answered, and a young girl ran at T’Challa. They embraced, both crying. Whoops and cheers filled the air as their friends all ran to embrace each other.

Bucky’s eyes were immediately scanning the field for Steve. When he finally found him, he ran towards him as Steve did the same and they met halfway. Bucky let out a sigh of relief and tucked his head into Steve’s neck. This relief was more than when Peter had finally decided to stop being flung into the air by- Peter!

Bucky suddenly jerked back. How could he forget? “Steve,” He gasped out, "Where is he? Where is-” He stopped and began to look around quickly, he could see Sam doing the same from the corner of his eye as he finally reached them.

“Where is who?” Steve asked, his brows furrowing in confusion. Of course, Steve wouldn’t know who he was talking about, who they were desperate to find and make sure he was okay. Steve abruptly started walking and Bucky followed, eyes resting on who they were walking towards. Tony Stark. It probably should have been a sign that he was getting too attached when his immediate thought after was ‘the kid’s dad; He might know where he is’. But Bucky knew he was attached anyway so paid it no mind.

“What’s wrong? Did we forget anything?” Steve asked Tony.

“I did.” Tony groaned “I failed him…”

“Failed him? Failed who?” Bucky was beginning to feel a tad sorry for Steve, who seemed to be in a constant state of confusion at the moment.

“Everyone returned where they were when the disappeared, and he was on Titan, a planet which is not even in our solar system! That over-site might mean I lose him.” Bucky felt his heart sink at those words and exchanged a panicked glance with Sam.

“Tony-” Steve began but a sudden commotion cut him off and a portal opened in the middle of the field. Bucky readied his gun immediately and aimed it at the portal. He wouldn’t let anything hurt Steve. Or Tony. He was certain Peter would actually rip him apart with his bare hands if he let something hurt Tony when he could have prevented it. He definitely didn’t want to get on Peter’s bad side. Again.

“Friend or foe?” He asked but Sam just clapped his shoulder.

“Nah,” He grinned, “I think we know who those sparkles belong to.”

No sooner than Sam had finished speaking, a very familiar voice filled the field.

“I’m still alive, did you miss me?” Quill walked through the portal with his hands thrown out grandly. Drax walked out behind him with a fond shake of his head as he tried to suppress a smile and Mantis then came out with a roll of her eyes.

“Friend.” Tony breathed out relived and started running towards them. Bucky and Sam immediately took off after him for they knew who else was on Titan with the Guardians. Strange walked out of the portal cradling Peter in his arms. An unconscious Peter. Cold fear began to make its way through his veins. Tony stumbled a bit ahead of them before he took off at a faster speed than before and fell to his knees next to where Strange put Peter down.

“Tell me he’s not,” Tony seemed to choke on the words, hands hovering just over him as Bucky and Sam came to a stop near him.

“He’s fine. Just asleep.” Strange reassured him and Sam breathed out a sigh of relief with Tony. Tony reached out, intent on drawing Peter into his arms when he suddenly whimpered, and Mantis cried out. They quickly looked towards her.

“It’s wearing off. He’s waking up.” She gasped out. Bucky and Sam exchanged another look. Why would Mantis have needed to put Peter to sleep? The last time she had- the last time she had helped Peter, he was having a sensory overload. Coming back must have caused his senses to go haywire.

Strange quickly pulled an irritated looking Tony away which Bucky thought was, frankly, a terrible idea because if Tony was even a fraction as protective of Peter as Peter is of him then Tony wasn’t going to be stopped just because Strange shoved him. It would just be an irritating obstacle. “Everyone, get back.” Strange yelled out. Sam raised an eyebrow at him.

“What? Why?” Someone asked. Strange was about to respond when a blood-curdling scream tore through the air startling everyone as they jumped and a few even let out scream of their own. Everyone stared in shock at the kid on the ground.

“DAD!” Peter seemed to force the word out from amongst the screaming. Tony wrenched himself from Strange’s grasp and turned to rush to Peter’s side but Strange made a grab for him again. “Wait, Stark, we don’t know how touch will affect him.” Strange called out. Tony turned slightly a snarl on his face. It was eerie how similar he looked to Peter in that moment. “You’re crazy if you think I’m just going to sit there and do nothing as my kid screams for me.” He growls before yanking his way out of his grasp.

Bucky saw Strange make a start on him again and put an arm out to block Strange from getting to Tony. “Leave it. You know it’s what he needs, you saw what he was like. Tony is what he wants.”

Tony quickly fell next to the kid and pulled him into his arms. “Shh, kid, I’m right here, I’m right here Pete, you’re okay, I’m okay, everything’s okay”. Bucky openly stares, like he is sure others are doing to. He had heard Peter sing Tony’s praises the entire time they had been in the stone, about how great a father he was. But hearing was one thing, seeing was completely different. Sam tried to match up this Tony with the one in his head and realised that maybe he hadn’t known Tony as well as he thought.

Peter opened his eyes into narrowed slits, tears continuing to fall down his cheeks as he grabs hold of Tony in a tight grip. “D-d-dad” Peter hiccups.

Tears start to leak from Tony’s eyes as well as he holds onto Peter, cries continuing to escape his lips. “I know bambi, I know.”

“ ’s too much. Too much.” Peter whimpers, burying himself into Tony’s chest. Bucky aches at seeing Peter in so much pain but is happy that he is finally in the arms of his dad and he knows that Tony will know how to make it better. Tony seems to understand the mumbled words as the arm that isn’t cradling Peter to his chest darts up to his ear and he starts speaking. “Friday, connect to the iron spider suit and ‘shut eye’ protocol”. Bucky has no idea what any of that meant but hoped that whatever it was, it would ease Peter through his sensory overload. A second passes as Tony cards his fingers through the kid’s hair, and everyone watches as he seems to lean into the hand. Then a mask covers his face and his body seems to slump with relief. “Better?” Tony asks softly, so much so that barely anyone hears but the kid nods weakly.

Tony cradles him to his chest, swaying slightly as he rubs a hand up and down Peter’s back. It seems to be to help ground Peter in his turmoil as well as comfort both of them. Peter still occasionally shuddered but the tremors that were running through him gradually slowed down. Sam felt his legs begin to tire and so sat on the ground as he continued watching the father-son duo. Bucky followed his lead and sat next to him. As Sam began to pick at the grass, others sat too as they waited while some left and began to go back towards the city.

When Peter’s shaking finally stopped, he uncurled his fingers from the death grip they had on Tony and wrapped his arms around him properly. The mask fell away as he buried his face into Tony’s neck. Tony’s hand immediately resumes running through the revealed hair. Bucky and Sam both breathe a sigh of relief that Peter’s sensory overload seems to have finished and he wasn’t in pain anymore.

Then, Tony shifts slightly, looking mildly uncomfortable. At around about the same time, Peter jerked upright with wide eyes. They had seen that look before an instantly tensed.

“Do you feel that too?” Tony asked him. But Peter didn’t answer. He jumped out of his arms and stood up before anyone could blink. He turned quickly, snatching the shield out of Steve’s grip and turning again. In the same motion, he flung the shield with a smooth, precise flick of his wrist. The shield flew before being embedded into the chest of a particularly large beast that had been sneaking up behind Tony. It fell to the ground with a gurgle as Tony stumbled to his feet quickly and backing away. He turned to Peter with wide eyes as the others scramble to their feet. Peter didn’t even notice as he just shook out his limbs and looked at his arms. Strange’s cloak flew from his shoulders and wrapped itself around Peter the way it had many times before and Peter smiled widely at it, patting it gently.

“Hi Cloaky, I missed you too, though we were together like 10 minutes ago. Anyway, guess that’s still working then,” He said before turning to his dad, “What did you mean ‘do I feel that’?” A look of confusion crossed his face before it was cleared away just as quick by a look of understanding. “Oh no, you got the spidey sense too? That wasn’t supposed to happen. Sorry about that.” He looked sheepish. Bucky and Sam shared a look.

“We are having a long talk about that, but I only really felt a bit uncomfortable but couldn’t place it,” Tony told him seeming to know what Peter was talking about. Bucky and Sam looked over at the Guardians questioningly. Quill just shrugged.

Peter nodded, contemplating something. “It makes sense, all of the new stuff you got is going to be weaker than what I have, your strength, reflexes, stamina, agility, spidey sense will all be more muted because it isn’t the real thing.”

Sam finally decided to speak up because none of them had any idea what Peter and Tony were talking about. “Uh, is anyone else here really lost, or is it just me?” Sam asked.

His hopes of getting an answer were shattered when Peter turned to him with a smirk, “I would have thought you’d be used to the feeling by now Sam.” Bucky let out a laugh at that and at Sam’s affronted look. Steve looked at him in surprise.

“Excuse me?” Sam demanded. Bucky shoved him, “You’re still miffed that he beat you at cards.”

Sam scoffed, “Oh please, you sulked for ages when he beat you at arm wrestling. Every time.” He got great pleasure from reminding Bucky of this fact. It never failed to annoy him that Peter was stronger than his arm, as ironic as it is since he seemed to hate its strength before. Peter grinned as Bucky grumbled about it.

“You did? Well done, kid,” Tony high fived Peter as Rhodey walked over and drew Peter tightly into his arms. He whispered something that Sam couldn’t catch to him before drawing back with a grin and saying, “Tony was a mess without you.”

“Hey!” Tony protested, but Peter interrupted him, “Don’t worry dad, I know what a mess you are without me!” Tony did nothing but huff and pull Peter closer to him and Sam had the sneaky suspicion that others would not have had the same response it they called Tony Stark a mess. “I think you’ve been spending far too long with Rhodey; he is obviously corrupting you.”

Peter and Rhodey grinned at each other and Rhodey winked at him. It reminded Sam a lot of his interactions with Peter but on a much closer level.

“Hang on,” Clint cut in. “How did you have cards in… there.” He finished awkwardly.

“Peter.” Drax said simply.

They turned to Peter but he only grinned and shook his head, “Not me.” Then he pointed at Quill.

“Why do you carry cards with you into a fight?” Clint asked him incredulous.

“I’ve been asking the same question for a while,” Strange muttered. Sam rolled his eyes and smiled as he heard Bucky huff next to him.

“You can never be too prepared,” Quill said sagely, then ruined it by shrugging his shoulders. Sam almost rolled his eyes again. Strange looked closer at Tony and narrowed his eyes before taking a step forward.

“You look different Tony.” He said after a slight pause.

“I feel different too. God kid, what did you do?” Tony asked flexing an arm as if to inspect it.

Peter shrugged, “It’s kind of a long story.”

“How long have you worked on this for?” Tony asked him, turning to look at him. Sam still had no idea what they were talking about.

“Since you were stuck in that bomb attack a while back and were in the med bay for 3 months,” Peter answers without pause. Tony and Rhodey wince. It must be a painful reminder. Hell, Sam knew it was painful. From how Peter talked about them it was damn near impossible not to realise that his family were really close. Having Tony be hurt in a bomb attack that injured him enough for him to be in the med bay for 3 months would have been a difficult time for them.

“That was a year and a half ago,” Rhodey said.

“It took me a while to figure it out,” Peter shrugged before lowering his eyes, “Dr Cho said you barely survived it. You had this long list of injuries and if I hadn’t gotten you out when I did you would have died before you even made it there. She said your past didn’t really help matters either.”

Tony instantly wrapped his arms around Peter tightly, “I’m sorry, she shouldn’t have told you that.”

“She didn’t. She told mum and uncle Rhodey after she asked me to step out of the room, but people forget about my hearing,” Peter shrugged helplessly. “I can’t lose you dad. I wished you had my healing, that I could give it to you, then you could get healthy easier and your body would heal better and quicker, you would be safer. Then I realised that if my DNA mutated and got rid of my body’s previous flaws then it can do the same to you. I got to work to try and give you my healing as well.” And that was just like Peter, being so determined and protective that he would find out how to give his dad some of his abilities so he could help save him.

Tony sighed, “Well, no one can say you’re not a genius, kid. And thank you. You saved my life today.” Peter finally looked up and gave him a watery smile.

“Yeah, but I’m curious. What exactly has happened to your body?” Bruce asked peering closely at Tony.

He shrugged, “Friday?”

“Your broken bones have healed though your ribs might need to be examined. Your lungs and kidneys have returned to that of like a healthy person and are fully functioning. Your coronary arteries have cleared of plaque and all traces of trauma have been erased from your heart as well as your valves fully functioning again. All in all, boss, you look like you’ve lost ten years and your body is like you never started drinking. You also have enhanced healing and your senses have become slightly sharper. Your brain has also lost traces of damage done by the drinking and drugs.” Friday rattled off the changes to everyone’s growing shock. Wow, that was an impressive list of injuries. How bad had this battle been exactly? Looking around at the mostly destroyed field and the exhausted, battered bodies of the Avengers who fought, Sam figured that it was a very big battle.

“So Tony is going to be even smarter now?” Clint groaned.

“You already couldn’t keep up Clint” Tony teased. That teasing seemed so familiar to Sam by now, having been at the receiving end of it more than a few times in his time in the Stone from a certain Spider-kid.

“Well, we definitely know Peter gets his sass from you then,” Sam butt into the conversation.

“His sass, huh?” Rhodey asked grinning over at him.

“Oh yeah, he has some scathing retorts. In fact, one of the first things he did in the stone was rip everyone a new one about what we did to Tony. Wanda almost cried, he almost punched me, and Sam chose the wrong time for a sarcastic comment, especially since he then turned on him and almost killed him for what he did to you.” Bucky informed them.

Rhodey turned to Steve, “I told you about his protective streak.” Steve just nodded, seemingly not being able to respond to that.

“You told him that?” Peter asked Rhodey shooting him a betrayed look.

“Oh yeah, I also told him about the presentation and the time you almost got into a fight with someone at school because they slagged Tony off.” Oooh, that was a juicy piece of information.

“You did what? Oh kid, we need to hear this story,” Sam laughed.

“No, you really don’t,” Peter muttered, glaring at him halfheartedly.

“I have a question.” Natasha said. Sam almost jumped; he had forgotten that there were others on the field. “Why are we all still standing out here?”

“That’s a good point,” Bruce nodded.

“I thought we were waiting.” Bucky shrugged.

“Waiting for what?” Steve frowned.

“He said he wanted to make a grand entrance,” Peter was almost bouncing on his toes, an excited gleam in his eyes. Loki had stayed true to his word and hadn’t told Peter what he was going to do. Sam suspected the only reason Peter didn’t break out the puppy dog eyes was because part of him wanted to be surprised. Sam was almost disappointed; he would have enjoyed watching Loki’s resolve crumble at Peter’s feet. Oh well, he was sure another opportunity would arise.

“But he had to pick something up first.” Peter continued.

“Who wanted to make a grand entrance?” Tony looked down at Peter. Almost as if summoned, a huge ship landed on the field, creating a cloud of dust and dirt around it. Sam snuck a glance at Thor. Unlike the other Avengers, he hadn’t jumped into a defensive position and was instead watching the ship with wide eyes.

Strange rolled his eyes. “He’s ridiculous.” Peter shushed him excitedly.

“Stop being such a spoilsport.” Sam hissed at him. He just rolled his eyes again.

The doors opened and Loki walked out, looking at them all before grinning. Thor broke out into a run towards him before engulfing him in a hug. It looked as though they were talking but Sam couldn’t hear what they were saying. They started walking towards the group as Quill and Nebula both spotted Gamora leaving the ship and ran to her. Bucky and Sam laughed as Nebula shoved Quill out of the way to get to get to Gamora and Quill had to wait his turn, making his displeasure at this fact well known by his huffing.

Thor faltered, clearly unsure about how Loki would react to the group or vise versa. Sam almost snorted, if only Thor knew the ridiculous dessert related insults he had come up with when he had decided Peter was too innocent to hear swearing, and how he would cover Peter’s ears with a scandalised look anytime someone else swore. Loki kept walking towards them however, so Thor followed, abate hesitantly. Tony was glaring at Loki but then Peter ran at Loki.

“Loki.” He cried excitedly.

“Peter!” Tony yelled after him, panicked, an arm flung out in an attempt to stop him. Peter ignored the attempts and launched himself at Loki and, in their near signature maneuver, Loki caught him and spun before pulling him into his chest for a hug. Even after the hug was finished, Peter stayed wrapped around him. Loki didn’t seem to have a problem with it, but Peter was the only one allowed to be so affectionate, anyone else was met with a hard glare or a trick of magic.

“Hello little spider. I’m glad to see you are alright after coming back.” Loki smiled up at Peter, his arms under him to keep him up.

“We never got a greeting like that,” Sam pouted. The position for Peter’s favourite was still up for grabs and Sam was still reaching for it. There was no way he would let _Loki_ have it.

Bucky shoved his elbow into his chest. “He was in the middle of sensory overload when we were there, you idiot.”

“What the hell is going on?” Tony rubbed at his temples.

“There wasn’t a lot to do in the stone, we got bored. We were each other’s only source of entertainment, so we bonded.” Peter explained, still playing octopus on Loki.

“And how did you become…friends with Loki?” Thor asked, surprise colouring his voice.

“I was one of the only ones he wasn’t mad at, at first.” Loki smirked, “It was very amusing to see this young human yelling at these idiots over there. You did well Stark.”

Tony almost stumbled back in shock. Looking around, Sam saw that Steve looked quite faint, Thor looked over the moon, and Clint… well, Clint looked an odd combination of protective, suspicious, sceptical and annoyed. Sam would figure out his expression later, for now, he couldn’t let Loki’s statement rest at that.

“Oh please, you got yelled at too,” Sam scoffed.

“Not as much as others,” Loki retorted.

“He’s right. Pete almost attacked Wanda for messing with Tony’s head,” Bucky nodded thoughtfully.

"He's just jealous because I'm Peter's favourite." Loki said with a smirk.

"What? Now hang on just a damn minute," Sam started in outrage. No way was he getting away with that. Just as Sam was getting his extensive argument geared up, the Guardians came back over.

“And how is my favourite Peter?” Gamora cooed, patting Peter’s hair. Quill huffed in outrage, but Sam saw the smile he was trying to suppress. Peter grinned.

“I’m great, how are you Gamora?”

“Great. It’s good to finally be out of that stone.” Gamora stretched out, though, Sam thought, that was completely unnecessary since they weren’t exactly cramped in the Stone.

“I am Groot.” Groot gesticulated wildly and Peter nodded.

“I agree completely,” Peter responded.

“Let’s just- just get inside. I feel you have a lot to fill us in on.” Bruce looked mildly dazed.

“Good idea.” Rhodey sighed.

“Let’s go then,” Tony turned and started walking. Peter hopped down from Loki and hurried to his dad’s side, lacing their fingers together. Sam and Bucky begin to tease Peter only to laugh and respond to his sharp comebacks. He was the same as always but there was _something_ there. He was more relaxed, freer with his laughs and smiles and Sam knew it was finally being reunited with his family. It wasn’t a huge change, but it was there. Bucky could see Loki keeping a protective eye on Peter, even while talking to Thor and they both knew that, if he let it, Peter’s family grew a whole lot bigger.

Tony catches Peter’s eye and they smile at each other before Peter tucks himself into Tony’s side and snuggles into him.

“Can’t even wait till we’re inside, kid?” Tony asks amused, even though he slings his arm around Peter’s shoulders to pull him in closer.

“I missed you,” Peter said softly, looking up at him and Sam’s heart melts just a bit more. “I love you dad.”

“I love you too, Peter.” Tony whispers back, eyes suspiciously bright. And well, that was all there was to it, wasn’t it? Peter had told them all about his dad but seeing Tony actually be a father was different. And Sam would let himself be sappy just this once and say it was beautiful and adorable. And that he wanted to be there to see that look on Peter’s face when Tony told him he loves him. Because Peter deserves all that is good in the world and he had a gang of superheroes now to help him get them. Because somehow, they had moulded into some sort of weird family. Looking around at the mini groups walking back to the city, at Bucky and Loki, at the Guardians, even Strange, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, right? This chapter took an age to be finished but I hope you like it. This was the last chapter of this story but I will be adding to the series because I still have ideas for them. Tell me what you thought and what you would like to see in the future!  
> Until next time.


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